Portrait of Wynton Marsalis

With tour de force performances on both trumpet and cornet of music ranging from the Baroque, through the Classical era, and into the 20th century, this “Portrait” illustrates the extraordinary diversity of Wynton Marsalis’ classical repertory. Marsalis recorded each of these works between 1982 (when he was just 21 years old) and 1987. The 1982 recording of Hummel’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E-flat Major comes from his fist classical album, which won Marsalis a Grammy for Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist(s) with Orchestra.

Track Listing

Johann Nepomuk Hummel – Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra in E-Flat Major

Liner Notes

Wynton Marsalis was born on October 18, 1961. Like many prominent jazz players, he comes from New Orleans. His father, Ellis Marsalis is a widely respected musician, composer, and educator, and from an early age, Wynton acquired valuable experience in his hometown marching bands, jazz bands, funk bands, and youth orchestras. He was given his first trumpet at age 6 by Al Hirt, but he did not pursue the instrument seriously until he started studying classical music at the age of 12.
After playing first trumpet in the New Orleans Civic Orchestra throughout high school and taking part in the summer program at Tanglewood’s Berkshire Music Center at the age of 17, Wynton Marsalis entered the Juilliard School at 18 and was soon recognized as the school’s most impressive young trumpeter. He performed as a pit musician in Sweeney Todd on Broadway and played with the Brooklyn Philharmonia.

The following summer he joined Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Since his New York concert debut in 1982, Wynton Marsalis has become a permanent fixture on the international jazz scene. He also devotes considerable time to the promotion of jazz and music education, taking particular pride in upholding one of the great jazz traditions through his support and development of young jazz talents.
As well as making a number of TV appearances for shows in the US, Wynton Marsalis has written music for television and film. He has also composed a ballet to a commission fro the Brooklyn Academy of Music in a recent collaboration with choreographer Garth Fagan and sculptor Martin Puryear. As an exclusive SONYMUSIC/SONY CLASSICAL recording artist, Wynton Marsalis has achieved extraordinary critical and popular success. Winner of 8 Grammy awards, and a nominee 23 times over the past 10 years, he made history in 1983 as the first artist to win Grammys in both the Jazz and Classical fields, as “Best Soloist” and “Best Soloist with Orchestra” respectively, an achievement he went on to repeat the following year.

His first record, in 1982, entitled “Wynton Marsalis” has been followed by at least one new jazz and one new classical release in virtually every year thereafter. His most recent release for SONYCLASSICAL features duets for soprano and trumpet by Baroque composers, which Marsalis performs with the soprano Kathleen Battle and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. With tour de force performances on both trumpet and cornet of music ranging from the Baroque, through the Classical era, and into the 20th century, this “Portrait” illustrates the extraordinary diversity of Wynton Marsalis’ classical repertory.